Seminar Topics:

I. Implications of Padilla for Post-Conviction Relief Based on Ineffective Assistance of Counsel - The Supreme Court's landmark decision in Padilla v. Kentucky requires counsel affirmatively to advise their clients on the actual immigration consequences of a plea. This session will discuss Padilla's many important implications.

II. Immigration-Related Claims of Ineffective Assistance of Counsel After Padilla - Padilla established or strengthened several different claims of IAC: affirmative misadvice, failure to advise, and failure to defend. It did not even mention, however, equally important traditional IAC claims based on failure to use immigration consequences as a powerful equity to obtain shorter sentences and pleas to less serious offenses.

III. Proof of Prejudice - While Padilla did not directly address the question of prejudice, to obtain PCR, counsel must establish prejudice, a topic as important to the client as the IAC claim itself.